§ Mr. ThurnhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many appeals to local authorities have been lodged so far during 1988 against the allocation of school places; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ButcherThis information is not available. An informal survey of local education authorities carried out by the Department in the late autumn of 1987 indicated that there had been in that year 8,253 appeals against school admission decisions to committees set up by local education authorities under section 7 of the Education Act 1980. 3,177 of these appeals were in respect of primary schools and 5,076 for secondaries. In addition, a total of at least 2,245 appeals against admission decisions were made to committees set up by governors of voluntary-aided and special agreement schools during 1987, 469 in respect of primary schools and 1,776 for secondaries.